Vaccine May Curb Advancement of Breast, Ovarian Cancers

A recombinant poxviral vaccine, PANVAC, under study has shown to produce positive results in patients suffering from ovarian and breast cancer with limited tumor burden and minimal prior chemotherapy, a recent research reveals.

According to the study, conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), U.S., monthly usage of the vaccine has shown promising results.

During the early trial of 12 breast cancer patients, it was found that four patients remained stable during the course, one patient was alive at 37 months and the median survival time was 13.7 months.

On the other hand, the median survival time for the 14 ovarian cancer patients was 15 months, while one survived for 38 months prior to the progression of the illness.

Participants, given the vaccine during the trial period, had only mild side effects which mainly involved reactions on the injection site.

According to the Los Angeles Times, though the news, published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, is encouraging, it's also true that it's a small, early pilot trial, and the paper didn't have a control group nor did it discuss how long patients would be expected to live without such therapy.

As such, it might take a long time for the drug to get approval as it would initially have to prove its effect in larger trials.